He echoed an earlier Archbishop of Chicago who before World War II “tried his hand at reading the signs of his times. On May 18, 1937, Cardinal Mundelein,” warned how Adolf Hitler was restricting youth ministry and silencing bishops in German media. He warned, “There is no guarantee that the battle-front may not stretch some day into our own land. Hodie mihi cras tibi. (Today it’s me; tomorrow, you). If we show no interest in this matter now, if we shrug our shoulders and mutter … it is not our fight…when our turn comes, we too will be fighting alone.”http://www.catholicnewworld.com/cnwonline/2012/1021/cardinal.aspx

How can we best contend against secularization? Our best weapon against secularization is early experience with the Gospel of Christ. Cardinal George wrote, “‘The first time I thought about being a priest was my first Holy Communion, when I really came to appreciate the nature of that sacrament as much as a 7-year-old could,’ he said in a church documentary in December 2013 commemorating his 50th anniversary as a priest.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-cardinal-george-dead-20150417-story.html#page=1